How Long Does It Take For You To Increase Your Belt Rank?

The first question most BJJ belts have in their mind after starting their career as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu athletes is how long they have to train, practice, and fight to get promoted to the next belt . This is a very good question if they have it in their mind. BJJ athletes must be passionate about growth. They should know the BJJ belt rank system . They should know how they can move ahead of others, get promotions, and excel in their BJJ career. There will be interruptions in your BJJ career. There will be some injuries that you will get while training or playing in a professional Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu match. But this will not stop you if you are really passionate about your BJJ career. This article will discuss the most asked question from BJJ athletes about the time they need to increase their BJJ belt rank.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has a unique ranking system, and it can be considered one of the best ranking systems among all games in the world. The BJJ belt ranking system makes it easy for everyone to recognize any BJJ player and his or her level of skill, mastery, or expertise in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. But the belt ranks of a BJJ athlete are not same across all BJJ academies. They can be different or the same. It depends on the BJJ academy in which a BJJ athlete is training. The adult BJJ belt ranking system has the following belts mostly:

• White Belt

• Blue Belt

• Purple Belt

• Brown Belt

• Black Belt

• Red and Black

• Red and White

• Red Belt

The above list is in increasing order of skill or expertise in the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. When a BJJ athlete starts their career, they are given the white belt. The black belt is the goal of all BJJ athletes. It takes years of consistent training and hard work for BJJ athletes to reach from a white belt to a prestigious black belt. But the belt is further recognized by the stripes or degrees. These stripes demonstrate the progress made by the BJJ athlete within each belt.

BJJ has different belt ranking systems for adults and adolescents . The BJJ athletes aged till 15 are called adolescents, and they have to follow the adolescent BJJ belt ranking system to measure their progress within Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The adolescent BJJ belt ranking system is following;

• White

• Grey

• Yellow

• Orange

• Green

Within each belt except white, there are three strips just like the adult BJJ belt ranking system: a white strip, followed by no strip, and then ends with the black strip. This way, the adolescent BJJ belt rank system has thirteen BJJ belts in total.

• The time it takes to get each belt depends on whether you are training consistently or not.

• If you are training consistently the whole time it should take a year to a year and a half to get a blue belt from starting in the BJJ career as a white belt.

• It should take another 2 years after getting a blue belt to get the purple belt.

• Another 2 years after the purple belt, to get the brown belt.

• Another 2 years after the brown belt, to get black.

• So it should be 6 to 8 years, depending on how much you are training. But that never happens because people can't train consistently. They get injuries, they have to move, they have to get married. All these things happen. So this is the black belt.

• There are 27 black belts at Gracie Tampa South, and you could point out that it is going to be a completely different time for all to get their black belts. Some took 13 years to get a black belt, while others got it less than eight years, 10 years, or nine years. How consistently can you train? How much do you love it? How much do you want to train, and how much could you fight through adversity and still come back the next time to train? That is the key. That is all that matters.

There are many things that affect your performance and progress in the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu belt ranking system. Some of these factors are the following;

Your instructor and trainer continuously evaluate your performance while you are training under them. They evaluate you on how you train and how you compete with other BJJ athletes of your level in BJJ matches. This helps them understand when you are ready for promotion to the next belt. When they see that you are now capable to be promotes to the next belt, they promote you.

Training consistently is the key to promotion in the BJJ belt ranking system. You are not training consistently; you do not deserve to be promoted to the next belt. This is the most difficult thing the BJJ athletes have to do in their BJJ career. But this is worth it. If you are training consistently, you will go way ahead of others.

Your performance in the BJJ matches and how you compete also affect your BJJ belt rankings. If you are competing well against your competitors of the same level, you have a high chance of promotion to the next belt in the BJJ.

Every Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu athlete is different. They cannot be the same. They have their own levels of passion for the game. They have their own energy levels. They have their own mental and physical capacity to learn BJJ techniques and moves. So, the time is different for everyone to move up in the BJJ belt ranking system.

Despite focusing on increasing the BJJ belt rank, BJJ athletes should try to focus on improving their skills and techniques in the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Some BJJ athletes focus so much on increasing their belt rank that they get demotivated by seeing the hard work, training, and time it takes for everyone to increase their belt rank. 

Enjoy being in the game. You should enjoy training for the BJJ. If you are enjoying what you are doing and having pleasure, then you will surely get success in whatever you are doing. The other thing you should continue throughout your BJJ career is to train consistently. You don’t know what to do. You don't know what to improve. You are not like doing it someday. You have to still do it. You still have to train it. That is all that matters for increasing your BJJ belt rank.

The BJJ belt ranking system has the following belts:

• White Belt

• Blue Belt

• Purple Belt

• Brown Belt

• Black Belt

• Red and Black

• Red and White

• Red

The adolescent BJJ belt ranking system is following;

• White

• Grey

• Yellow

• Orange

• Green

Within each belt except white, there are three strips just like the adult BJJ belt ranking system: a white strip, followed by no strip, and then ends with the black strip. This way, the adolescent BJJ belt rank system has thirteen BJJ belts in total.

There is a difference in the color of belts and the stripes in adult and adolescent BJJ belt ranking systems. For adults, the belts are white, blue, purple, brown, and black. For each belt, there are four stripes or degrees. For adolescents, the belts are white, grey, yellow, orange, and green. The strips for each belt except white start with the white strip then with no color and then with the black colored strip.

If you are training consistently the whole time it should take a year to a year and a half to get a blue belt from starting in the BJJ career as a white belt. It should take another 2 years after getting a blue belt to get the purple belt. Another 2 years after the purple belt, to get the brown belt. Another 2 years after the brown belt, to get black.